Ozzy!

Since last Tuesday, Katie, who is stoic about any discomfort, has had unceasing pain around her knee.
Some friends were over during our long power outage yesterday evening and the kids ran around for hours outside in the darkness.
Afterward, Katie's pain was so bad that she had Advil, ice packs, and a Tiger Balm massage by Becky before bed. After tucking Katie in with an elevated and immobilized leg, big sister took to Dr. Google to try to find a diagnosis for her kid sister.
To her credit, she hit upon Osgood-Schlatter disease in her search, and today our doctor confirmed her guess.
So Katie gets three days of limited activity and a cool nickname, "Ozzy."

Tornado Watch?!

While enjoying 70 degree spring weather, a cup of coffee, and conversation with my little sister this morning, I checked our forecast.
Weather alert? Hmm, what could it tell me, I wondered.
Oh, just a little Tornado Watch in February.

Gang Activity

I saw this hanging at the pretend post office where the girls and neighbor play "town."

Bikes Are The New Horses

Trail riding, mountain bike style.

Snow Day 2012

Here's a treat from Laura and Katie, our early bird photographers, supplying you with a glimpse of this morning's magic.
I got up before 7 and saw that it was good, but I was not going to go out there before I had coffee. And by then, things were already changing because of the warm temperatures.
Thankfully, the girls had taken a camera with them, so I can blog vicariously through them.

Terrifying Sled Ride

Here's footage of today's sledding adventures on the far hill.
This is an example of why I don't look when they're out playing.
They woke up at 6:30 and went out soon afterward.

Narnia

We got (are getting) a nice little blizzard at Providence Farm.
The lamp post is my Christmas present from Big Dan. I saw it on clearance at Lowe's and knew it would turn our front yard into Lantern Waste from the Narnia books.
I've seen little goaty hoof prints in the snow, but haven't caught Faun Tumnus in person yet.

Laura!

Poor Laura's shockingly under represented on my blog.
Can I get an "Amen!" from all the middle children of the world?
Before she was forced to hire an agent to lobby for her fair treatment, I figured I'd add a cute photo.

Saturday Morning

Becky and Katie, who share a room, redecorated yesterday. They painted the whole room purple, and Dan and I brought home new comforter sets.
Here they are on the couch, sound asleep and as snuggly as can be under their new blankets.

Flashback

As I was looking through Gretchen's cell phone pictures last night, I saw these adorable and green images.
I thought it would be a nice break to see verdant fields instead of brown grass.
This is Katie with Lambda, Q-Tip's little ewe lamb.

Lame Winter

A beloved facebook friend called our winter lame. She chose her adjective well.
We've had lots of sunny and warm weather, and few frigid days.
When you combine good weather with a trip out west to visit a horse loving aunt and uncle, you get horse crazy kids.
All three girls are working with their own horse, plus helping their sisters out.
Laura has Mr. B all beefed up and feeling young again, so he's enjoying light riding.
Becky's perfecting her skills on Libby.
And Katie gets stuck breaking the baby pony, since she's the only one small enough to do so.
Here's a scene from today.
Unfortunately, the camera ran low on batteries before I could catch them all riding together.